


cioccolata calda

by Merideath



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies)
Genre: Banter, F/M, Fluff, Hot Chocolate, Meet-Awkward, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-16
Updated: 2016-12-16
Packaged: 2018-09-09 01:13:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8869993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merideath/pseuds/Merideath
Summary: “All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.” ― Charles M. Schulz





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kimaira-london](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=kimaira-london).



> I was pretty sure my muse, Sybil, had abandoned me altogether as I tried and failed to start this Darcyland Secret Santa piece time and again. You can't see me holding my fingers 'this far' apart, but that is how close I was to bowing out when Darcy and Peter started talking in my head. The dialogue flowed and I suppose the rest is history. 
> 
> I really hope you like the fic, kimaira-london. I wish I had it in me to write more. 
> 
> Thank you all my lovely readers, and huge thanks to dizzy for her mad beta skills. Happy holidays, folks. ❤️❤️❤️

The wood floor is cold under Darcy’s feet, even through her socks, as she stands in the kitchen, stirring a wooden spoon through thick liquid bubbling in a saucepan. “The flight was fine, Jane,” she says, holding the phone between shoulder and cheek. Darcy lifts the spoon from the pan and dips the tip of her index finger in. 

The chocolate is rich and dark on her tongue. Darcy’s finger is still pressed between her lips when keys rattle in the door. “Gotta go, boss-lady, the roommate for the week is back. Promise I'll call you tomorrow.”

“Hey, Rocket, I helped myself to the kitchen like you...said,” Darcy says words drifting off. “You're not Rocket.” 

She scans the room for her purse, with her taser carefully hidden in the pocket she kept tampons in. The apartment is clean enough, cluttered with shelves full of vintage records and cassette tapes for some unknowable reason. Not perfect, but lived in; that’s the reason she’d booked it.

Her brain helpfully reminds her that she’d left her purse on the bedroom dresser beside her laptop. Darcy’s grip tightens on the wooden spoon. Her heart is beating fast but she doesn't feel scared. Not yet, anyway. Maybe that was something that should scare her more, that she isn't scared at all. Maybe she just needed to sleep for twelve hours straight.

“Who the hell are you?” says the man standing in the doorway in a worn red leather jacket with a pair of orange headphones on. He is definitely not the short, mouthy guy Darcy booked her airbnb stay with. 

“I’m Darcy. I booked with Rocket through airbnb.”

“What?” red coat says. He does a sort of shuffling dance, mouth slack as he eyes Darcy up and down from her happy sun socks to her Roswell, New Mexico t-shirt.

“Darcy,” she shouts, miming taking headphones off with spoon in one hand. Thick drops of chocolate fall onto the floor.

“The fuck is going on?” red coat asks.

Darcy’s brain drifts just a little, imagining red coat in full Redcoat regalia. She snorts at her own thoughts and lowers the spoon into the saucepan. “Airbnb. I booked a room with Rocket.”

“Rocket doesn't live here I do. This is my apartment.”

"I had two flights back to back with a hellish overnight layover, an uber ride with this weird dude that was born without a sense of humour, and got ogled by a busker dressed like the Giving Tree to get to this apartment in this city. I paid for the room and I am not going anywhere until it's time to venture out for coffee, sugar and bacon. I promise I will tase your nicely shaped ass if you take one step closer, because I am not wasting this pot of hot chocolate on you."

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

He really does have a finely shaped ass, and the tiniest hint of abs hinted at beneath the tight henley under his battered red jacket. He’s tall and rather pretty in the slightly rough sort of way that takes more time before a mirror in the morning than she ever spent. 

Darcy feels pretty confident she could take him on and kick his ass. Mostly she’s too tired to deal with more bullshit today. The thought of hot chocolate and sleep are the only things keeping her from losing the plot entirely.

"Wait, you made hot chocolate?"

“Making it.” She jerks her chin at the pan on the burner.

“You just, just stay there a minute, uh, what was your name again? Danny?”

“Darcy.”

“Like Mr. Darcy?”

“Yeah.”

“Awesome.”

“Only if you’re an Austen fan.”

“Peter Quill. My friends call me Star-Lord.”

“Why?”

“I work at the planetarium.”

“Okaaay,” Darcy shrugs. “Cinnamon?”

“Behind the thing you put the stuff in,” Peter says, lifting his phone to his ear.

"Rocket? You rented out my apartment? To some girl that could be an axe murdering psychopath?" Peter says. He covers the phone with his hand. "No offence."

"None take. Besides they lost my axe on the flight," Darcy deadpans. She rummages through the cupboard, finding the jar of cinnamon behind a burr grinder covered in coffee dust. The lid twists off easily and she takes a careful sniff. The scent of cinnamon fills her lungs and she nods to herself, carefully shaking a little into the chocolate pot.

“What do you mean I wasn't supposed to be home? Did you forget that I live here, Rocket? Yeah, well, the feeling’s mutual, buddy,” Quill says. “I'm changing the locks.”

“My friends are all a-holes,” he says, tossing his phone on the sofa. Peter shrugs out of his coat, hanging it up on the hook by the door. 

“I know that feel. Spoons,” Darcy says, around a yawn. She pours the thick hot chocolate into two waiting mugs. Peter opens a drawer, and then a second one, procuring two mismatching teaspoons. Darcy lifts the mug up to breathe in the scent of chocolate and cinnamon. Her eyes flutter shut and she wobbles on her feet.

“Oh my god, what is this?” Peter says. He sounds like he’s having a religious experience, or maybe an orgasm. Either way, Darcy’s too tired to care.

“Cioccolata calda. Italian hot cho...colate. ‘S my speciality,” Darcy says yawning. She stirs her mug with her spoon. “Night night, red coat.”

“Star-Lord.”

“Whatever, red coat,” Darcy says.

 

“Wait, who’s gonna clean this up?” Peter asks Darcy’s retreating back. “Oh, come on.”

**Author's Note:**

> Cioccolata Calda (Italian Hot Chocolate)
> 
> Ingredients for one cup:
> 
> 2 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder  
> 2 tablespoons sugar (I used a mix of brown sugar and white/caster sugar)  
> 1 pinch of sea salt  
> ¾ to 1 cup milk (whole, semi-skimmed or almond)+ 1 tablespoon  
> 2 teaspoons cornstarch  
> ½ teaspoon vanilla extract  
> 1 pinch ground cinnamon  
> whipped cream (or whipped coconut cream - optional) to top
> 
> Instructions:
> 
> I'm not one much for measuring things like making cocoa or dry pasta or anything that isn't cake. Sometimes not even then. Honestly if you know how to make hot chocolate, you can make this.   
>    
> Combine the cocoa powder, sugar, salt, cinnamon and milk in a small saucepan. Set the pan over low and stir with a wooden spoon or whisk.
> 
> Mix together cornstarch and one tablespoon of milk* in a small bowl or drinking glass until the cornstarch has dissolved.
> 
> Once the hot chocolate mixture has reached a simmer pour in the cornstarch mixture. Stir or whisk continuously. Cook the hot chocolate over low to medium heat until it thickens to a pudding/custard consistency.
> 
> Remove the pan from heat and pour into a waiting coffee cup, or cups if you want to share** as it is very rich. Top with freshly whipped cream (whipped coconut cream or canned whipped/squirty cream works too). Serve with a spoon while warm.
> 
> The ‘recipe’ can be doubled, or well you can make a big ol’ pot of it as the ‘secret’ is pretty much just adding cornstarch to make it thhhhick. 
> 
> *I’ve had it with almond milk and made it twice with semi-skimmed milk. 
> 
> **You really don't want to share.
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> _“I never met a chocolate I didn’t like.” – Deanna Troi_


End file.
